[49134] in Cypherpunks
Re: The FV Problem = A Press Problem
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (E. ALLEN SMITH)
Sat Feb 3 19:52:03 1996
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 19:46 EDT
From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
To: vin@shore.net
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
X-Envelope-To: cypherpunks@toad.com
X-Vms-To: IN%"vin@shore.net"
From: IN%"vin@shore.net" 1-FEB-1996 02:08:33.54
>Greg Broiles <gbroiles@darkwing.uoregon.edu> opined:
>We should, however, learn from what FV did right - they wrote software which
>(apparently) had or can have a real political effect. (It seems to have
>worked on Garfinkel, anyway). Cypherpunks write code? FV wrote code and got
>some attention for their otherwise unexciting message. <snip>
Now _that's_ a useful and on-target observation.
-------------
Quite. To expand it: A. a program doesn't have to be new to the
technical community to make a difference, it just has to be new to the rest of
the world; B. publicity for programs makes a difference. If DigiCash had
come out with this program and had done the press release better than the FV
folks, I suspect we'd be cheering them on and the credit card types would be
doing worse - a good situation.
-Allen
